Tucker Carlson didn’t want lawmakers wasting time debating DADT, and now he doesn’t want school administrators in California wasting the time of students by teaching them about the historical contributions of LGBT people as a means to fight bullying.
“You don’t need to be anti-gay to be against” SB48, says Carlson of the bill that gay State Sen. Mark Leno is pushing through, which would require public school texts to include queer figures.
“There are two problems with this: one, it’s propaganda; and two, it’s blackmail,” Carlson boldly insists. “The point of history is to teach what happened. Not what you wanted to happen. Not what you hope will happen but what actually happened. In this case, a lawmaker is saying, portray a special — an interest group in a positive light or kids will be hurt. Hence the blackmail. They are basically saying if you don’t do this, kids could die. And that’s an outrageous thing to say.”
No, it’s not outrageous, because gay, lesbian, bi, and trans people did make worthwhile contributions to American and world history — they just aren’t acknowledged for it, or their involvement in the queer community is neglected. (The most basic example of this is when textbook authors fail to mention a historical gay figure’s same-sex partner, while an equivalent straight person’s spouse would always be included.) At its core, Leno’s effort is an attempt to showcase the men and women, who happened to be LGBT, that made possible the world we live in today. By ignoring these folks or their sexuality as the texts currently do, schools are silently telling young people that queers didn’t make a difference. They did. And so will this bill.
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“[T]he purpose of school is to educate children,” concludes Carlson, “and this not only differs from that aim, it gets in the way of it.” He is wrong again. The purpose of school is manifold. Education is certainly at the top. But teaching social skills, acceptance, and fostering generations of well-rounded respectful leaders is up there too. Leno’s bill should not be necessary, but it is — for the same reasons texts needed correcting when they ignored the contributions of blacks and women.
kayla
Tucker Carlson, I use to watch you on MSNBC, and though you were always somewhat of a conservative douchebag, you did seem to retain some semblance of decency and logic. Since moving to Fox News however, you have fallen right in line with the rest of their minions. I know everyone needs to make a living, and you have a family to support, but where is your shame? Teaching kids that some of the people who contributed to the development of their state and country is, actually, teaching facts. Or are you of the opinion that gays haven’t contributed anything to American history. Even the greatest bigots have to begrudgingly admit that there have been talented and innovative gays who have made great contributions to our society. Teaching this wouldn’t be left-wing propaganda, it would in fact be correcting a historical record that has often tended to put these seminal gay figures in the closet.
jcknck
The point of history is not only learning the facts of what happened in the past. The reason we teach history to our children is to keep society in check. We have to remember what happened so we don’t get lost in the current issues of our world, but we remember how far we’ve come.
To ignore the contributions of LGBT people of the past is to say that the LGBT community is not part of our history. Teaching our youth about LGBT civil rights means that we show them that there are people out there like them. The loneliness felt by LGBT youth is poisonous because they do not see that they are part of an important part of society. We just need to tell our youth the facts about LGBT history in order for them to know that LGBT people have contributed to society and for them to see how far we have come as a society, and how far we still need to go to ensure that the every person has equal rights.
That Bitch Téa Delgado
Before the internet, before there were openly gay celebrities such as Neil Patrick Harris and Cheyenne Jackson, the adolescent me went searching for gay role models and I found them in the history section of the local library. Learning about Alexander the Great, Hadrian, Louis XIII, Rager Casement and so many others gave me hope and courage…and the inspiration to study history at college and, now, to teach it to high school students. Carlson is unbelievably wrong.
Kieran
If these two dunces really think history as it is taught in our schools is always about “the facts” and “what really happened”, they must be incredibly naive and stupid. “Identity politics” has ALWAYS played a role in how our History has been handed down.
tjr101
Tucker Carlson is so the stereotypical straight, preppie white Republican born with a silver spoon in his mouth and feels his opinion matters more than anyone else’s.
History is an important guide in letting the present and future know where we came from, how we got here and how it influences where we’re headed. History should be inclusive. If that’s propaganda, I’ll have it.
ewe
who gives a shit what fucking Tucker Carlson thinks about anything. Tell him to shut the fuck up. He is such a priviledged tart.
ewe
@tjr101: exactly or otherwise viewed as “another white preppie male republican farting in your face” What else is new. He is an ANNOYING gas bag. What credentials for freagin anything does that little turd have anyway?
C
This guy completely misuses and twists so many concepts. First of all, he calls the proposed lgbt class black mail. Prevention for teen suicides is most definitely not that. I think others have already mentioned how he misconstrues the lgbt community and what the history class would teach.
Nick
@tjr101: I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Scott
So…these two blabbermouths are trying to tell us that there was never an important LGBT movement in our nation’s history? Idiots..
Gregger
Tucker is a phobic reactionary who needs counseling. Everytime he’s on air he seems as if he’s afraid. Being afraid is not living a life, it’s an existence.
Pip
See, Tucker Carlson is all-inclusive. Bigots and non-bigots alike and join in writing gays out of American history!
Daez
“To tell the TRUTH about what went BEFORE” as long as it has nothing to do with gay people.
Also, a person’s gayness has as much historical significance as their spouse, which is actually quite a lot since it was that gayness and their partner that supported them in everything they did and accomplished.
No social science? Apparently Mr. Dumass fails to realize that social science is comprised of parallels. Either that or he fails to realize that it was after the inclusion of teaching of significant women in history that we started to understand equality for women better and the same for blacks and all other minorities.
robert in nyc
Tucker the fucker poker up his ass Carlson is Anne Coulter’s alter ego. Both fucktards and right wing scumbags. I hope his kids grow up gay to piss him off.
gollygeegaygoy
Teach the truth. As long as it’s Tucker Carlson’s version if the truth. What a typical right wing nutbag hypocrite. Where is the factory that produces these robotic neanderthals ?